In two papers of the International Theological Commission(ITC) Cardinal Ratzinger approved a philosophical error 1 which is there also in Redemptoris Missio and Dominus Iesus.He assumed that the baptism of desire cases are visible when they are always invisible for us.He created a new theology with visible baptism of desire and being saved in invincible ignorance, to replace the old theology on extra ecclesiam nulla salus (EENS). The dogma EENS said all needed to be incorporated into the Church as members for salvation.Redemptoris Missio does not state this.
This new theology which says that every one does not need to be incorporated into the Church as a member for salvation, he placed in Redemptoris Missio and Dominus Iesus.It is also the theology of the Balamand Declaration.
This is the predominant theology he protected during his pontificate as Pope Benedict XVI and in Summorum Pontificum, he expected the traditionalists to accept this new ecclesiology of the Church.
In the following passage he rejects exclusive salvation in the Church with all having to be members.Instead he presents salvation based on a vague Christology. He is accomodating the baptism of desire as an exception to the Feeneyite interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus(EENS).He is also interpreting Vatican Council II with this irrationality.
The Church's universal mission is born of faith in Jesus Christ, as is stated in our Trinitarian profession of faith: "I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.... For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man."5 The redemption event brings salvation to all, "for each one is included in the mystery of the redemption and with each one Christ has united himself forever through this mystery."6 It is only in faith that the Church's mission can be understood and only in faith that it finds its basis.
Nevertheless, also as a result of the changes which have taken place in modern times and the spread of new theological ideas, some people wonder: Is missionary work among non-Christians still relevant? Has it not been replaced by inter-religious dialogue? Is not human development an adequate goal of the Church's mission? Does not respect for conscience and for freedom exclude all efforts at conversion? Is it not possible to attain salvation in any religion? Why then should there be missionary activity?-Redemptoris Missio 4
Redemptoris Missio 5 is also Christological without the traditional exclusivist ecclesiology. Since he assumes Lumen Gentium 16 ( invincible ignorance) and the case of the invisible catechumen ( Lumen Gentium 14) refer to known cases.So he projects LG 14 and LG 16 as exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus as it was known to the 16th century missionaries. It is of course,for him , a rupture with Tradition.
In Redemptoris Missio 9 he is careful not to say that all need to be incorporated into the Church as members.Instead he makes a meaningless statement, at least for me, when he says that the Church is 'the first beneficiary of salvation'.
The Church As Sign and Instrument of Salvation
9. The first beneficiary of salvation is the Church. Christ won the Church for himself at the price of his own blood and made the Church his co-worker in the salvation of the world. Indeed, Christ dwells within the Church. She is his Bride. It is he who causes her to grow. He carries out his mission through her.
Note : Christ dwells within the Church but it is not necessary to be a member of the Church for salvation.This is a major rift with the past magisterium.It is based on the philosophical error of hypothetical cases being known exceptions to the traditional exclusivist ecclesiology of the Church.
The Council makes frequent reference to the Church's role in the salvation of mankind. While acknowledging that God loves all people and grants them the possibility of being saved (cf. l Tm 2:4),15 the Church believes that God has established Christ as the one mediator and that she herself has been established as the universal sacrament of salvation.
This is the new theology. 'The Church's role in the salvation of mankind', 'all people...(have)the possibility of being saved', ' the universal sacrament of salvation', these are all vague ways to say that there is salvation outside the Church and this known salvation contradicts the Feeneyite interpretation of the dogma EENS.
"To this catholic unity of the people of God, therefore,...all are called, and they belong to it or are ordered to it in various ways, whether they be Catholic faithful or others who believe in Christ or finally all people everywhere who by the grace of God are called to salvation."
Again we have the new theology based on the false premise.It's conclusion is that not every one needs to enter the Church as the 16th century missionaries taught but now every one is called to this 'catholic unity of the people of God'.
It is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for salvation. Both these truths help us to understand the one mystery of salvation, so that we can come to know God's mercy and our own responsibility.
This is a mystery of salvation. This is the new theology which no more is a mystery.It is based on a major philosophical error in the Church. It was first made in the 1949 Letter and was not corrected by Pope Pius XII. It was then not corrected in Vatican Council II which mentions being saved in invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire with reference to all needing faith and baptism for salvation(LG 14, AG 7).Again no one corrected it.
Cardinal Ratzinger instead of interpreting Vatican Council II with hypothetical cases not being an explicit exception to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus, incorporated the new theology in Redemptoris Missio.The dogma EENS was effectively discarded.The Catechism of the Church refers to this dogma defined by three Church Councils as, an aphorism !(CCC 846).
Salvation, which always remains a gift of the Holy Spirit, requires man's cooperation, both to save himself and to save others. This is God's will, and this is why he established the Church and made her a part of his plan of salvation. Referring to "this messianic people," the Council says; "It has been set up by Christ as a communion of life, love and truth; by him too it is taken up as the instrument of salvation for all, and sent on a mission to the whole world as the light of the world and the salt of the earth."(RM 10)
Again we have the new theology to replace the traditional salvation theology. The Church is now ' a communion' and 'an instrument of salvation' but it is no more the exclusive Ark of Salvation of Noah in which all men need to enter to be saved.There is known salvation outside the Church,for Cardinal Ratzinger.
He will now directly contradict the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus as in the Letter of the Holy Office 1949.He will mix up what is a possibility as being a known reality.It would be heresy in the past centuries to say that ' it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church.' (RM 10)
Defacto it is granted to only those who explicitly have entered.We do not know anyone who is saved who did not explicitly believe in Christ. This was the 1949 philosophical mistake.
Since he assumes that those who are in invincible ignorance can be saved and they refer to known cases he states 'for such people salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church...''(RM 10)
When Lumen Gentium 14 refers to 'those who know' it is a reference to invisible cases in 2016. So they cannot be projected as being exceptions to the Feeneyite interpretation of EENS. Yet this is exactly what Cardinal Ratzinger assumed i.e invisible cases are not invisible.
Salvation in Christ Is Offered to All
10. The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all. But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the gospel revelation or to enter the Church. The social and cultural conditions in which they live do not permit this, and frequently they have been brought up in other religious traditions. For such people salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his Sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation.-Redemptoris Missio 10
The rest of Redemptoris Missio separates salvation in Jesus from the necessity of being a formal member of the Church.He refers to 'the ecclesiocentrism" of the past'(RM 17)
We have more new theology based on the objective error in the Letter of the Holy Office 1949, likewise ' one may not separate the kingdom from the Church. It is true that the Church is not an end unto herself, since she is ordered toward the kingdom of God of which she is the seed, sign and instrument.' The seed,sign and instrument are vague terms.This passage does not say all need to formally enter the Church.
He then refers to the Holy Spirit.It makes me ask how can the Holy Spirit teach an objective philosophical error and then have a new theology created upon this factual mistake ?. It is a fact of life that we cannot see or know that catechumen who desired the baptism of water and did not receive it and was saved.It will always be a hypothetical case for us. So how can this theoretical case be projected as a foundation for Cardinal Ratzinger's new theology ?
So now 'thinking with the Church" (sentire cum Ecclesia).'(RM 36) means being able to see non Catholics in Heaven saved with the baptism of desire and without the baptism of water in the Catholic Church.This is being able to see ghosts.
Or it means being able to know on earth non Catholics who will be saved without the baptism of water and Catholic faith.This means knowing what only God could really know.
No where does Cardinal Ratzinger say all non Catholics are on the path to Hell without 'faith and baptism'(AG 7).He does not state that most people are on the way to Hell since they die without 'faith and baptism'(AG 7, LG 14).Nor does he state that Catholics are the new people of God, Catholics are the new Chosen People (NA 4).This was the traditional basis for mission.
Redemptoris Missio 55 states,'Dialogue should be conducted and implemented with the conviction that the Church is the ordinary means of salvation and that she alone possesses the fullness of the means of salvation'.Again he means
'the Church' according to the new theology and not 'the Church', according to the 16th century ecclesiology which did not consider hypothetical cases as being objectively explicit.They did not assume invisible cases were physically visible.-Lionel Andrades
'the Church' according to the new theology and not 'the Church', according to the 16th century ecclesiology which did not consider hypothetical cases as being objectively explicit.They did not assume invisible cases were physically visible.-Lionel Andrades
1.
DECEMBER 22, 2016
Cardinal Ratzinger 's work : a rupture between faith and reason
http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio.html
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